New Beginnings
by Marcybat
Summary: Emma returns to Australia, and meets Bella. Melody, a girl from Canada, moves to Australia with her family.
1. A New Start

"What do you mean 'were moving'?" I say.

My mother says, "I believe it will be good for you, Melody. I know how much you hate water, but Australia seems like a good place for a new start. Since the shark attack in British Columbia you've been distant to everyone. You're so scared of the water you won't even go out when it snows! It's snowy for at least four months here in Calgary. You're done high school and will be eighteen soon, a new life could await us. Your sister wants to go. What do you want?"

I say, "Mom, what's going to change if I go? I have no friends here since the shark attack and I'll have no one there."

My 14-year old sister, Cora, says, "Please, I want to start a new adventure. It would be fun. We're going to go where Dad was born, wouldn't it be nice to get to know him a little more?"

I whisper, "We're going to Australia."

* * *

><p>Emma steps off the boat and is greeted by Rikki and Cleo.<p>

Emma says, "I've missed you guys. I have a lot to share."

Rikki says, "So do we."

Mrs. Gilbert says, "Emma, you go off with your friends and catch up."

With that, Emma, Rikki and Cleo go to Cleo's. They sit on Cleo's bed.

Cleo says, "There's another mermaid. Her name is Bella; she's really nice. Bella became a mermaid in Ireland when she was nine."

Emma says, "Wait… Nine? Do you guys like Bella?"

Rikki says, "She's okay. Her boyfriend Will found out about us. Cleo's dad got married to a girl named Samantha. Will's sister, Sophie, and Sam's co-worker, Ryan, destroyed the Moon Pool. There was this weird water-tentacle monster thing, which actually wasn't a monster. The water-tentacle showed us that we needed to stop the comet. Bella helped us stop the comet from crashing into earth."

"A comet? Seriously?" Emma says in disbelief.

Cleo nods, "We have gone to the Moon Pool and it's starting to repair itself. Soon it'll be back to normal-ish."

Emma says, "Is there anything else?"

Cleo says, "Juice Net went under, and Zane turned it into a Café called Rikki's. It almost went under when Rikki left."

Rikki gets a text. She says, "It's Bella; she wants to go for a swim. You up for it Emma?"

Emma nods, and says, "I can't wait to meet her."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 1. What couples do you want to see? EmmaAsh, Emma/Rikki, Emma/Cleo, Emma/Melody, Emma/Bella, Rikki/Zane, Rikki/Cleo, Rikki/Bella, Rikki/Melody, Cleo/Lewis, Cleo/Bella, Cleo/Melody, Bella/Will, Bella/Melody… anyone I didn't mention. 2. What do you think of Melody/her family? 3. Do think Melody is or should be a mermaid? **


	2. Bella

"Hi, you must be Emma." The blond mermaid says as we swim up. Like the girls said, the Moon Pool is pretty much destroyed.

I nod, and say, "And you're Bella, right?"

"Yep. It's nice to meet you." Bella says.

I say, "You too."

Cleo says, "Is Will coming?"

Bella nods and says, "He's going to meet us out there."

We go out and start swimming. After a little bit a blond boy joins; us he doesn't use scuba gear. After our swim we go to Rikki's café. Zane says hi to 'us', and by that I mean Rikki. Afterwards, I go home to unpack.

Ash comes into my room. He says, "Welcome home Emma."

I give him a hug and kiss. "Hey, Ash. I missed you."

He says, "I missed you too."

I says, "Do you know what's been going on about the Moon Pool?"

"No, I haven't hung out with the girls since you left." Ash says.

"They pretty much replaced me. They're not even wearing the lockets anymore. On top of that, the moon pool was destroyed. "

Ash says, "That much?" I nod. He says, "Let me make it up to you. Let's go take Rebel out for a ride."

Ash and I go to the ranch and take Rebel out for a ride. After hours of riding, we return to the ranch. We clean and groom Rebel. Then we go to my house. We hang out for about another hour before Ash has to go home. I kiss him good-bye.

* * *

><p>Rikki, Cleo, Bella, Will and I sit on an empty beach.<p>

Will says, "Let's go for a swim?"

Bella nods and says, "Great idea."

They get up and head for the water; I hesitantly follow. I've only been here a day and we've been swimming more than anything. I do love swimming, but I do also like other things.

We swim for hours before I go back onto land. I walk home alone and hang out with Elliot.

Elliot says, "Emma, why aren't you hanging out with Rikki and Cleo?"

I say, "Well, I just feel a little left out and just want to be alone."

"It doesn't seem that way. Do you think you will ever hang out with them again?"

I nod and say, "Of course I will hang out with them. They're still my friends; I just have to get used to how they act now."

"Good. I like them." Elliot says.

I smile, "I do too."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 1. I'm sorry this is a small chapter, I couldn't think of what to put. 2. What do you think of Emma's reaction to Bella? 3. How do you want Melody to meet everyone?<strong>


	3. Shark

Melody's POV

I take a deep breath as I step out of the airport. We, Cora, Mom and I, get into a cab. After what feels like hours we pull up to a big house. The moving trucks are already in front of the house.

I start to help unpack the trucks, after a few minutes I yell, "Mom I'm going for a walk."

I leave and walk down the street. A boy with black hair and brownish eyes walks up to me.

"Are you new around here?" I nod, he continues, "Welcome. I'm Zane. Over there is a Café called Rikki's you should check it out."

I smile, "I will."

I walk off, continuing on my way. I decide to stretch my 'legs' and go for a run. I was in a shark attack last year; I lost my right leg and arm.

I accidently run into a girl with straight blond hair and blue eyes. I stand up and help her up.

"I'm so sorry, I was lost inside my head. Are you okay?" I ask.

She nods, "Yeah, I'm fine I should have been paying attention. I'm Emma."

I smile and say, "I'm Melody. Do have somewhere to be?"

"No, why?"

"Do you want to walk? I know nothing about Australia, and I don't want to end up somewhere restricted or something."

Emma nods and we continue down the road.

* * *

><p>"Wait… you did what?" Emma says laughing.<p>

I stop laughing just enough to say, "She didn't even know it was missing for weeks." I look around at the sky and see its getting dark. "I should really be getting back. My mom is going to be worried."

Emma says, "Mine too."

We jog back the way we came.

As we approach my new home, I say, "This is me. I'll see you tomorrow Emma?"

Emma nods and starts walking. She says, "By the way, we're neighbors."

I watch her as she enters the house next to mine. I turn and walk into the house.

"There you are! I was getting worried." My mom yells.

I say, "We got distracted and lost track of time."

Mom says, "We?"

"I ran into a girl. Her name is Emma, she lives next door."

My mom smiles and says, "See; I told you Australia would be nice. You've already made a friend."

I shrug and say, "And it's nice to be able to go out for a run without having to worry about snow. Today was good, tomorrow will probably be good, but things could happen to destroy it all."

My mom nods and says, "Is that why you don't try to change? Is that why you didn't try to make friends? Because of one bad day."

I yell, "Mom! You know nothing about the way I act. That bad day I lost my best friend! That bad day I lost my arm and leg! That bad day we lost Dad!"

I run into my new room and lie on the bed. Flashbacks of that day returning me.

"_Dad, Ally, hurry up. I want to get to the campsite." I yelled._

_Ally yelled, "We'll be here a week we can take our time getting to the campsite."_

_I rolled my eyes and waited for them. After a long hike up the mountain, we got to the campsite. It was to late too explore by the time the tents were pitched and a fire started. Dad was making dinner and Ally and I looked for more wood to burn. _

_When we returned, Dad had dinner made. We started to eat. _

_Dad said, "Tonight's the full moon. I think, if we really wanted to, we could sleep in the morning." Little did we know that the answer could kill Ally and my dad._

_I nod enthusiastically. We head down to a beach, I point out some dolphins._

_Ally said, "You want to swim out there?"_

_I nod and said, "Of course I want to. Dad, can we?"_

_My dad nods, "I'll come out with you." _

_We swam out to the dolphins and played with them for a bit. They started to swim away so I swam in to take a break. I watched as Dad and Ally played around with some fish. Trying to catch them. I saw something in the water slightly bigger than a dolphin. _

_I yelled, "Dad, Ally, shark!"_

_They turned toward me. My dad yelled, "What?"_

"_Shark!" I yelled and pointed to it. _

_My dad said something to Ally and the slowly started to make their way back keeping their eyes on the shark. My dad and I had been in this situation before. Because I like to swim in the ocean all the time, I've studied sharks and how they act._

_I noticed the shark was curling and so did my dad because he stoped moving. Dad took a defensive position. The shark moved closer and I knew that we would need metical attention. I called 911 and told them what was happening._

_The shark attacked Dad and Ally, and I did the most stupid thing ever; I jumped into the water. I swam towards them, and saw my dad was in the middle of a battle with the shark. I grabbed Ally and we started our way back._

_But the shark beat my dad and came after us. We didn't know… and now Ally's dead. The shark grabbed her leg and pulled her back, the force of the movement caused her to black out, or she fainted; I will never know. I knew my only chance was to get away. I saw a sea cave opening and knew it was closer than the shore. I swam in._

_The moon came overhead a crack in the cave… it was so magic. Light filled the cave and water droplets rose up. For a minute I forgot about the shark but I remembered when it grabbed my leg. _

_I kicked its eye so it dropped my leg, but it grabbed my arm. I heard sirens so I screamed as loud as I could. The next thing I know I was in the hospital with only one arm and one leg._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 1. What do you think of Melody's backstory? 2. Sorry for not posting. I doubt that I will post again soon. I'm behind at school so I don't have time to write. I will try my best to get back soon.<strong>


	4. Mako

"Hey, Emma." I say as I open the door, "Come in. I'm Just going to grab my bag before we go." Emma comes inside and I go grab my side bag from on the couch. We leave out the door. I ask, "So, what are we going to do today?"

Emma says, "I actually don't know. Um… Well we could meet my other friends if you'd like. I'll call and ask them where they are."

Emma takes out her phone and dials a number. "Hi, Cleo… I was wondering if you guys wanted to hang out… No that's bad idea. I made a friend, and I want to introduce her... Ricki's? Is _she _okay with that?... Okay, see you in a few." Emma hangs up.

She says to me, "Okay, we can go meet my friends at Ricki's."

I nod and we make our way there. We go in and sit a table and wait, and wait.

Emma says, "I'm sorry, I think something came up. That happens a lot."

"It's okay; I don't mind I'm not a people person anyway. Um… Do you know a place called Mako Island?"

Emma looks at me questionably, and says, "Yes, why?"

"My mom said something about a friend taking us out there. She said I could bring you if that's okay. I'd really like that since I don't like water, and I'll probably go insane camping." I say.

"Um… I'll have to ask my mum; I'll go call her. I'll be a minute." Emma get's up and walks away.

* * *

><p>Emma's POV<p>

I pull out my phone and call Cleo. I mumble, "Pick up."

Cleo answers and says, "Sorry, fish emergency. I would have called you and asked for your help, but I assumed you wouldn't want to ditch your friend."

"I also have a fish emergency. Melody's mum is bringing her to Mako tonight. Should I go with her? She and her sister are very adventurous and I fear they'll find the moon pool." I say.

"Wait… is her mum's friend bringing her?" Cleo asks.

I ask, "How'd you know?"

Cleo says, "My dad's bringing us. Rikki's coming too, Bella's grounded and won't. You should come."

"Okay, I'll ask my mum. See you then."

I hang up and call my mum, "Hi, Emma."

"Melody wants to go camping with me tonight on Mako, can I go?"

"Alright. I'm okay with that."

* * *

><p>Melody's POV<p>

We go to Emma's to get her camping stuff. I'm sitting on her bed, when her little brother walks in the room.

He turns to me, "Who are you?"

I smile and say, "Melody, you must be Elliot. It's nice to meet you."

I hold out my prostatic arm, he takes it and shakes it.

He says, "I don't want to be rude, but why don't you have an arm?"

"I got attacked by a shark." I say.

Elliot asks, "Does it hurt? What kind of shark was it?"

I shake my head, "No it never hurts. The shark is called Blue Shark."

"Elliot!" A woman calls from downstairs.

Elliot says, "Bye. It was nice meeting you, Melody." He runs downstars.

Emma turns to me, "A shark attack? Those don't happen too often."

"Well, you're lucky you've never been in one. Anyways, let's go over to my place so I can pack."

"Alright."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 1. I feel bad for posting on this story again and not one of my others, but I go through <strong>**fazes of obsession and right now it is mermaids and made up religions. 2. Do you think Melody will get along with Cleo and Rikki? 3. Any ideas on how… a) They find out about each others powers. b) How Melody meets Nate (later in the story) 4. I hope you enjoy this story and I will be posting as much as I can. When I have a chapter and a review I'll post the next chapter.**


	5. Fins and Tails

Melody's POV

Emma, my family, and I near an old-ish looking boat. My mother says, "They'll be here soon."

Emma and I talk a bit before, a brown-haired hazel-green-eyed girl, a girl with blond hair and blue eyes, a girl Cora's age with dirty blond hair and blue eyes, and a man with gray hair and brown eyes walk up.

Mom introduces us, "Melody, this is my friend, Don, his daughters, Kim and Cleo. This is Cleo's friend Rikki right?" The blond girl nods, and Mom continues, "Don these are my daughters, Melody and Cora, and you know Emma."

Don nods and says, "Well, let's go."

Mom and Don load all camping of the stuff into the boat. After everything is in the boat, Mom helps Cora and Kim into the boat. Rikki, Cleo and Emma get into the boat, I go to join, but I'm paralyzed with fear.

Mom says, "Melody, we'll be fine. It's a short boat ride."

Kim says, "What's wrong with her?"

"Kim!" Don and Cleo say. Don says, "Watch your manners, young lady."

I finally force myself onto the boat and I go to stand next to Emma. The boat starts up and we leave the dock.

After a few minutes, I turn to Rikki and Cleo, I say, "Emma talks about you guys a lot."

Cleo says, "Um… well, anyways… It's nice to meet you Melody."

"Same to you," I say, "I like your guys' necklaces. Are they moonstone?"

Rikki says, "We're not sure we found them on the beach. Your necklace is nice as well… I think. It looks like a vile of something."

"A forgetting potion. My mom has one except her potion is a moon spell I think." I say.

Rikki says, "What's with all the magic stuff?"

I say, "It's Mardiam. Which is a very uncommon religion, based on magic."

Don says, "Here we are, we'll be at Mako in a minute or so."

I look out at the water. Uncontrollably I scream. Don says, "Is everyone okay."

Everyone looks at me questionably, but I only standing there silently watching a shark swim around. Emma notices what I'm looking at.

I say, "I want off. Get me out of the water."

Emma says, "It's okay. It won't come near us; it's only a Mako shark. They hardly attack."

Don hurries to the shore and I'm off the boat as soon as we get to Mako. 'We' unload the boat and go more inland to set up camp.

After we set up camp I say, "I'm going to go for a small walk, I'll be back soon. I wont go too far."

Emma says, "Why don't we come with you?"

"No, I really want to go alone." I say.

I walk off and start to head back towards the shore not letting them see where I was heading. I walk to the waters edge far enough up the beach not to get wet.

I spot a pod of dolphins. One of them strays closer to shore than the others. It calls out, "Come swimming with us."

I take a deep breath; I never swim in the ocean. I step into the water and dive deeper. I feel my non-existent leg reform only for a nanosecond, and then both legs merge together. I also feel my non-existent arm reform. I stretch out my arm and fingers.

I look at my mermaid tail for a moment, before swimming towards the pod of dolphins. I have never have felt so free before. I swim with the dolphins for a while. I go up for air, as does a smaller dolphin.

He says, "We have to go now, but this was fun. Thank you for swimming with us."

The pod swims away. I dive back under and see an under sea cave. I swim in.

* * *

><p>Emma's POV<p>

I look at Cleo and Rikki then say, "We're going to go for a walk too. We'll be back soon." We follow after Melody, but we lose her.

Cleo says, "Why don't we go to the land entrance and wait and see if she comes around. After a while we'll go back."

Rikki nods and we go to the land entrance. After a long while we get bored and go into the moon pool and hang out in there.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 1. I will be posting less because I'm working on a book. 2.<strong>** How do you think the girls will react? 3. And as I asked before I don't know how to introduce Nate... **


	6. Camp

Melody's POV

I swim up and am shocked by what I see. Cleo, Rikki and Emma are mermaids! I can tell they have as much shock as I do.

I say, "So… You're fish…"

Rikki says, "How'd you become one?"

Before I can say anything Emma says, "Your arm!"

I say, "I'll explain; a year ago, I got attacked by a shark. My only chance was to swim away. I had gotten into a cave. The magic was beautiful. I'd forgotten what was going on and didn't get out of the water. The shark grabbed me and I lost my arm and leg, but because the magic was already in me, when I touch water, I get them back."

Emma says, "What's your power? I can freeze things, Rikki heats things, and Cleo can move water."

"Really? You guys have such cool powers! All I can do is talk to fish." I say.

Cleo says, "Like actually talk to them? That would be so cool, I'd love to talk to my fish."

I say, "We should head back; we don't want to worry our parents."

We swim out of the pool and go onto the shore. Rikki heats our tails, evaporating the water, and makes them vanish. We go back to the camp. Don is cooking on a fire.

"You seem better, dear." Mom says.

I nod and say, "I am; I just needed a quick run."

As the night goes on, we hang around the fire talking about stupid things that no one will remember after we're done. I laugh unlike I've done in so long, forgetting all I've been through. Soon, we're getting into tents and sleeping. Well trying to; both Kim and Cora are freaked out by the ghost story Rikki told. I fall asleep to the sound of them whispering.

"Get up, Melody." I hear Cora say.

I yawn and get out of the tent. Everyone is starting to pack up, and I go to help them. After awhile my leg starts to feel stiff.

"Hey, I'm going to go for a run. My leg is stiff. Anyone want to come?" I say.

Lot's of no's fill the camp. I start to jog uphill, then broke into a sprint. Soon I reach a river-like stream. I go to jump over a small part in the stream, but I loose my footing and slide down a hole. I look up, _too steep_, I look to the side and see an opening to the wall. I stand up and slowly enter the cave and realize that it is the moon pool. I go to realize there is a mermaid in it; one I've never seen before, she stares at me in fear.

She goes to swim out, but I say, "Wait," She stops a turns to me. I continue, "Are you Bella?" She hesitantly nods. I slip my feet into the pool and say, "I'm a friend of Emma's." My tail shows up.

She stairs at me in shock, "You're a mermaid, do you know about…"

I nod, cutting her off, "I know about them… Well, I have to go they'll be looking for me."

I dive in and swim to the beach and air dry, and then sprint as fast as I can to the campsite. The whole site is packed up.

"Sorry, I lost track of time." I say, helping them bring the camping stuff to the boat.

Mom starts telling them about how I always get lost in my mind, and as much as it bugs me, I smile and nod.

As we load onto the boat I freeze, _I will not get back on that death trap_. Emma smiles at me and takes my hand forcing me onto the boat. On the way back, I close my eyes and smile, as I get lost inside my head.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm back. 1. How do you want the next chapter to start? (When they get back? Melody by herself? Melody hanging with the group? Other?)<strong>


	7. Nate

A few days go by Emma and I hanging out almost every second. A few times, we hang with the other mermaids, or Ash. He didn't seam too shocked when I fell into a puddle and grew a tail.

On this particular day, Emma was home sick and I felt like having an alone day, so I went to Rikki's Café. While I was having a drink, Zane walked up to me.

"How are you?" He says, with a grin that could win any girl over.

I smiled back and say, "Fine, thank you."

He looks slightly distant for a moment, "You hang out with Rikki, right?"

"A bit, why?" I respond.

In a slightly worried tone, he asks, "How is she?"

"She's fine." I simply say. He mumbles a goodbye and walks away. He starts talking with a friend of his I've only seen a few times. He has brown hair and blue eyes. He walks up to me.

"I'm not a photographer, but I can picture me and you together," He stated. I giggled.

I smiled, "That was awful. Did you expect that to work?"

He says, "Never does. Thought I'd try, though."

"Would you like to sit?" I ask. He accepts, smiling. "What's you name?"

"Nate. Yours?"

Playing with my hair, I say, "Melody."

"Catch you later, Melody." He says, getting up and walking back to Zane. I get up and leave the café, heat rising to my face.

I head to the water and go for a swim. I go to the moon pool. I draw a heart into the sand and write N+M inside. He's different than every guy I've ever met.

I swim out of the pool swimming with fish. "Melody, let's play tag." A fish says. A bunch of fish play with us. All of a sudden, the fish scatter and I see a shark swimming towards me. My body freezes; my lungs fill with water that doesn't filter out.

I start to lose consciousness. I see a net cover my body and feel it pulling me out of the water. Everything goes black.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 1. Who do you think is pulling her out of the water? 2. Do you think the girls will approve of Melody's crush?<strong>


	8. Nate pt 2

I wake up in the soft sheets of a bed, recalling what had happened. _Was it all just a dream?_ I sit up and that's when I realize I'm not in my room. The room was full of "boy" things. There is a bunch of sci-fi stuff all over, and video games.

Whoever lived here would have had to see my tail. I shift uncomfortably in the bed. There was a knock at the door.

"I'm coming in," says a familiar voice.

The door swings open; it's Nate. My heart starts to pound against my ribs. He smiles at me.

"I'm glad you're awake," he says, "I was out boating, and I saw you in the water..." He walks over and sits on the bed. "I promise I won't tell anyone." He puts his hand on mine. "I told my mom that you were with me, and then there was and accident you fell in."

"You're not gonna tell anyone?" I say quietly.

He smiles at me, "No, I won't. Promise."

I smile at him, and lace my fingers with his. "Thank you."

"So, a mermaid? How does it work?" He asks.

I shrug, "I don't know exactly. I just can't touch water, okay?"

He nods and moves closer to me. The door swings open again. A woman walks in.

"Are you okay?" She asks, "I called your mom she's on her way here. She was really surprised that you were out boating."

I smile, "I'm fine, thank you."

She glances at our hands, and I move mine. She glances back and forth between us. Then she says, "Well, I'll leave you two be."

She leaves the room. He smiles at me again, and I once again felt the pounding in my chest. My face floods with heat. I smile back at him. My hand goes to grab his hand again.

"Thank you, again, for not telling anyone." I say.

I get closer to him. Our faces get closer. There is a knock at the door, I pull away from Nate. The door swings open. My mother walks up to me. She hugs my and kisses my forehead.

"What on Earth were you doing on a boat?" She says.

I say, "Nate was helping overcome my fear… It obviously didn't work. Don't blame him, it was my idea."

My mom smiles at him, "Thank you for trying." She turns to me, "Let's get you home."


End file.
